Seven for a Secret

NYPD officer Timothy Wilde is still ruffling feathers politically and socially as he tries to solve crimes in a corrupt city. Only six months into the experiment, most New Yorkers distrust the NYPD, making Timothy’s job even harder. But when a woman comes to him, claiming her sister and son have been wrongfully taken by slave catchers, Timothy uncovers new depths of darkness and sin in his city. How far will Timothy go to see justice done, and what will it cost him?

Seven for a Secret is a pull-no-punches follow-up to Lyndsay Faye’s magnificent novel The Gods of Gotham, and treads more unsettling territory than the first. Faye effectively crafts a fully-realized New York City, populated with good and bad and all sorts in-between, raising tough questions and tossing our idealistic Timothy into the metaphorical meat grinder.

But Faye also takes the opportunity to expand several of the side characters. Bird, Valentine, and Mercy all get new wrinkles, new color and depth, and through the lens of their interactions with Timothy, are allowed to grow. It’s confident storytelling and world-building, done with grace. Quite simply, Seven for a Secret is another home run for Lyndsay Faye.